


under electric candlelight

by steveandbucky



Series: in any version of reality [16]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Artist Steve Rogers, Awkwardness, Bucky Barnes & Sam Wilson Friendship, Crack, Embarrassment, First Meetings, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Meet-Cute, Misunderstandings, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Sneaky Natasha Romanov, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov Friendship, hints to sam/maria and nat/sharon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-18
Updated: 2016-09-18
Packaged: 2018-08-15 18:13:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8067619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steveandbucky/pseuds/steveandbucky
Summary: There's an ad on the student's notice board where a guy is offering a thousand bucks for a blowjob. Bucky finds out about it and thinks why not? He's a broke college student. He really could use the money.





	

 

Bucky startles and jumps a little in his seat when a heavy textbook drops on his table, followed by a big stack of papers. He looks up to see Sam dropping his backpack next to the table as he takes a seat, a big smile on his face.

“You’re welcome,” he says, and goes for Bucky’s half-eaten bagel.

Bucky’s eyes widen slightly. “The molecular and cell exam notes?”

Sam nods, and takes a sip from Bucky’s soda; normally he would at least scowl at Sam, but now he’s too happy to bicker.

“Thanks, Sam. You’re a lifesaver.”

“I know,” Sam flashes him a charming grin. “And now you owe me. Come to Gabe’s party with me on Saturday.”

Bucky groans. “Lemme guess, Maria is going?”

“She might be.”

“Fine,” Bucky points a finger at him. “But only because you just saved my ass from failing my worst class.”

Sam swats his hand away. “Come on, you know I need my wingman!”

“And you know I’m a terrible wingman,” Bucky says, picking up his bag of chips only to find it empty. He shoots a look at Sam who shrugs innocently. Bucky gives up on eating and picks up the notes Sam’s brought him instead, looking through them quickly.

“Yes, you’re a human disaster, we’ve established that,” Sam replies. “But terrible wingman is better than no wingman. We might bond over making fun of you, who knows.”

Bucky kicks his foot under the table and receives a kick to his shin in response. “Ow,”

“Oh, you’ll never guess what I saw on the students board on my way here,” Sam leans forward on his elbows. “Some whackjob put an ad offering a thousand bucks to, quote, ‘get his dick sucked.’”

“What?”

“I know,” Sam grimaces. “I’m surprised it’s not been taken down already.”

“Wait, a thousand bucks? Really?” Bucky asks, suddenly interested.

Sam gives him a look. “You’re not actually considering this, are you?”

“Why the hell not? I could certainly use a thousand bucks for things like _food_ and _rent_.”

“I could too, but you don’t see me going around sucking strangers’ dicks for money!” Sam exclaims, just as two girls from one of their classes pass by, who turn and give him strange looks. “Ladies,” Sam nods at them, smiling sheepishly.

Bucky barely manages to keep a straight face and bursts out laughing once they’re alone again. “That was priceless,” he says, giggling uncontrollably.

“Yes, you see? _That_ -” Sam points his thumb behind him, towards the direction the girls are walking, “-is how normal people react to something like that.”

“Well,” Bucky leans back in his seat, running a hand through his short, curly hair. “My motto in life is, if you’re good at something, never do it for free. I’m pretty sure that applies here.” he says, winking at his friend.

“Save up some of that wisdom of yours for your grandkids, at least.”

Bucky tosses a balled up tissue at Sam, who neatly dodges it while he keeps laughing at his own joke.

 

~~

 

Bucky actually stops by the students’ notice board and sees that the ad is real, and there is indeed a guy named Steve who is offering a lot of money for a blowjob. Bucky thinks about it for a moment before he tears one of the little papers’ with the guy’s phone number on it, and tucks it in his back pocket. He mulls it over during his Comparative Literature lecture, and finally decides to go for it. Getting paid for sex might be a moral issue for some people, but the fact is that Bucky’s always had an open mind about it. If it’s something he does for fun anyway, why not make some money in the meantime? Plus, he is a broke college student. He _really_ could use the money.

 _Oh God_ , _what if it’s a really old creepy guy?_ He cringes at the thought, then perks up as his mind helpfully supplies a simple solution. _Then I’ll just get the hell out of there, no big deal._

Bucky decides to contact the guy later in the evening, after he’s had his dinner and is sprawled on the couch, watching _Tiny House Hunters_ on TV, because there’s nothing better on, okay?

He types the number in the keypad and pauses with his thumb over the call button. Shit, he’s never done this before. What is he supposed to say? He feels his heartbeat pick up, nerves rising in his stomach. He drops his phone and stares at the ceiling, taking a deep breath. Finally, he picks up his phone and decides to text the guy instead.

_‘Hey, I saw your ad earlier and I was wondering if you’re still looking for someone?’_

Bucky hits send and smiles, proud of himself. There, that was simple. Now all he has to do is wait for the reply. He turns the TV back on and switches to _Chopped_ instead, because he could always learn a thing or two from that show, at least. He can’t imagine he’ll ever be in a situation where he’ll need to make a meal out of daikon or toybox squash, since he’d never even heard of those. Gummy bears and lime jello though? Definitely more likely, considering he lives with three other college students, also broke.

His phone beeps moments later with the arrival of a new text message.

_‘Heya, thanks for contacting me. Yes, I do still need a volunteer, rather urgently to be honest. When would be a good day & time for you?’ _

Bucky thinks for a moment before he replies. _‘I’m gonna be busy this weekend, got a lot of studying to do, but I’m free Monday after 6 if that works for you?’_

_‘Perfect. 6:30 OK? We can do it at my apartment if you don’t mind, I’ll make sure my roommate is not around. Is that OK?’_

Bucky sends another message to confirm, and the guy - Steve - sends a text with his address, saying ‘ _see you Monday_ ’, and that’s that. Bucky tosses his phone aside and starts working on a study plan for the weekend, knowing he’s probably gonna spend most of Sunday hangover anyway, if he ends up going to the party on Saturday. Great.

 

~~

 

At 6:19 on Monday, Bucky finds himself pacing around the apartment building of the address Steve had given him, nervously rubbing his sweaty palms on his denim-clad thighs. He stops and takes a breath, and looks up at the sky, praying that the man he is about to meet with is not an old creepy pervert. Oh, who is he kidding, it’s definitely a pervert. God, why did he ever think this was a good idea?

_Okay, Barnes. Get a grip. You can do this. Remember, you can always turn around and run for your life. Or maybe jump out of the window, but only if it’s an emergency._

_Do NOT jump out of ANY windows,_ says his voice of reason, sounding suspiciously like Sam.

Eventually, he thinks fuck it, and heads up, thinking the guy won’t mind if he’s a few minutes early. He walks down a long corridor, checking the door numbers, finally stopping when he's outside door 107. He takes a deep breath, raises his hand and knocks. The door opens moments later, and what he finds behind it is not Bucky something was expecting, at all.

Steve is...gorgeous. Bright blue eyes and defined cheekbones, golden blond hair and a pretty pink mouth. He’s a few inches shorter than Bucky, dressed in a black _Doors_ t-shirt and skinny dark jeans. And he’s about Bucky’s age, by the looks of it. Definitely not an old creepy guy. If anything, Bucky thinks he might’ve hit the lottery, because a guy like this is one he’d hit on and want to take home anyway.

“Hey, come in,” Steve says, stepping aside, a small smile playing on his lips. His voice is deep and rich, Bucky thinks as he follows Steve inside, and he can’t help but imagine but he’d sound like moaning his name. _Shit._

“Take a seat, do you want something to drink? Thanks for agreeing to do this, I was getting kind of desperate trying to find someone,” Steve rambles. “Strangely, most of my friends weren’t very keen on the idea, when I asked them.”

Bucky nods, unsure what to say. Steve catches his eye and breathes out a soft laugh, rubbing the back of his neck, which is turning slightly pink, same as his cheeks.

“Sorry, I’m kind of nervous. I haven’t really...done this sort of thing before.”

Bucky huffs. “Yeah, me neither.”

“It’s kind of awkward, isn’t it,” Steve says, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“Yeah,” Bucky agrees, taking a look around the living room. It looks like the typical college student apartment, ratty old furniture, seemingly random decor here and there, soda and alcohol bottles in a far corner. Absently, Bucky wonders how this guy even has that kind of money laying around, to be paying him so much for a single blowjob.

“Um, a glass of water would be nice actually?”

Steve nods and hurries to fetch the drink from the kitchen. Bucky sighs, letting his shoulders relax. This isn’t so bad, actually, not so different from hooking up with someone. Same kind of awkwardness, more or less - which is why he’s not big on one-night-stands, but still.

“Thanks,” Bucky accepts the glass and downs half of it one go, then places it on the coffee table.

“Uh, so do you want to get started?” Steve says, cheeks flushing a deeper red.

“Yeah, sure, let’s get this show on the road!” Bucky grins, clapping his hands and rubbing them together, making the blond laugh. God, even his laughter is magical, like music to his ears. Bucky wants to ask him out. Is it weird to ask a guy out after getting paid to suck his dick?

“You can get undressed in the bathroom, it’s down the hallway, first door to your left,” Steve says, pointing towards it. “And there’s a robe there for you to wear, if you’d like.”

Bucky’s eyebrows fly to his hairline. Okay, so he hadn’t realised he would need to be completely naked for this. But it’s cool, he doesn’t mind. He’s pretty comfortable in his skin, actually. So he heads to the bathroom, takes off his clothes, folds them on top of the laundry hamper, and puts his shoes next to it. He thinks about wearing the bathrobe, but what’s the point if he’s just gonna take it off right away? Then again, maybe Steve suggested it for a reason, so he picks it up and wraps it around him and ooh, it’s nice and soft. Perfect.

Steve looks up when Bucky appears in the living room again, and gives him another smile, looking less nervous now. “All good?” he asks.

Bucky nods, giving him a smile, and starts disrobing - when suddenly he notices the camera in Steve’s hands.

“Uh…” he trails off, eyes widening.

Steve looks up at him, waiting for him to elaborate.

“Are you - are you gonna film this?” Bucky stutters.

“No, no,” Steve shakes his head. “It’s just pictures.”

Bucky hesitates. This definitely wasn’t mentioned in the ad, and he’s not sure he wants to go through with it anymore. Because blowing a guy one time is fine, but having pictures of it taken, which can be then posted anywhere on the Internet? No way.

He swallows hard and ties the rope around his bathrobe again. “I, um,” he stutters, suddenly very nervous. “I don’t think your ad mentioned that,” he says, voice quiet.

“What?” Steve frowns, puzzled.

“Sorry, I’m not comfortable with this - having pictures taken.”

Steve looks dumbfounded. “Then why - why are you even here?”

Bucky feels his face heat up. He looks down at his bare feet. “I really didn’t know you were gonna take pictures, your ad only said you wanted a blowjob not-”

“ _What?_!” Steve practically shrieks, then covers his mouth with a hand. Bucky looks up to see Steve staring at him with wide eyes. “I’m sorry, did you just say - a blowjob - what?!”

Bucky blinks at him, confused. “The blowjob ad, it said you would give a thousand bucks to have your dick sucked.”

Steve yelps, a loud, high pitched sound. “You came here to give me a blowjob?!”

Cold dread suddenly fills Bucky. He thinks he might throw up. “Oh God, did I text the wrong number? Shit,” Bucky covers his face with both hands, utterly embarrassed. “I’m so sorry, I just…” he reaches into the bathrobe’s pocket and pulls out his phone, searching for the message thread. “Is 718-419-5463 your number?”

Steve looks like he’s just seen a ghost. “Yeah, that’s my number.”

“Then…?”

Bucky stares at Steve, at a loss for words. Steve stares back, silent and unmoving, until he suddenly gasps and drops his head in his hands. He says something, the words muffled by his hands, so Bucky doesn’t actually make sense of them, but he thinks he catches the word ‘murder’ and shit, what the fuck is going on.

“Natasha,” Steve grits through his teeth, running a hand through his hair, messing it up. “I am going to murder that girl, I swear to you.” he sighs and flops down on the couch. “I’m really sorry about this, Bucky, and it’s not your fault at all.”

Bucky blinks, opens his mouth to reply, and promptly shuts it when he realises he has nothing to say.

“My ad was for someone to volunteer as a nude model for my photography class. I’m doing a body studies project,” Steve explains. “And the compensation was pizza and beer. Not a thousand dollars.”

Wordlessly, Bucky walks over and flops down on the couch next to Steve, clutching at his robe to make sure he doesn’t accidentally expose himself.

“How the fuck did that turn into…” he trails off, making a vague gesture in front of him.

Steve chuckles, though it sounds more menacing than humourous. “My friend Nat likes to play pranks on people.” he says as way of explanation.

“Shit,” Bucky glances at him eyes wide. “Isn’t this a bit...extreme?”

“Yes, well, she will probably find this hilarious.”

“Maybe I would too, if I wasn’t naked in a stranger’s apartment.”

Steve breathes out a laugh. “Were you really…” he trails off. Bucky turns to look at him, curious. He raises an eyebrow, expecting Steve to elaborate, who blushes and looks away.

“Well, I mean, you came here to blow a guy for a thousand bucks?”

“If you think I am embarrassed by that, you are mistaken,” Bucky grins cheekily. “Unfortunate that it turned out to be a misunderstanding. I really could use the money.”

Steve laughs again, more heartily this time, throwing his head back and exposing the line of his throat, and Bucky has to tear his gaze away. It really doesn’t make things better that he finds Steve attractive. And that he’s on Steve’s couch, wearing only a bathrobe. Shit.

“I’m, um, I’m gonna get dressed,” he mumbles, getting to his feet.

“Yeah, of course,” Steve also gets up. “Uh, can I still buy you a pizza? To make it up to you for all....this…” he blushes. “Least I can do for a victim of one of Nat’s pranks.”

Bucky finds himself smiling goofily. “Sure, yeah, that’d be great.”

“And we can put a movie on so we don’t have to fill the awkward silence.”

Bucky’s grin stretches even wider. “Thanks, I appreciate that,” he says, and turns on his heel, heading for the bathroom where he’d left his clothes.

Okay, so things didn’t go according to plan, but he chooses to look at the bright side. It could’ve been worse. Instead he gets to spend the evening eating pizza and watching a movie with a cute boy, so really, he should be thanking his lucky stars.

 

~~

 

Steve flops down on the seat opposite Bucky in their campus’ Starbucks on Wednesday morning, a Venti to-go cup in hand and a notebook in the other.

“Oh, hey,” Bucky says when he looks up, a surprised smile curving his mouth. He hadn’t expected to see Steve ever again since the unfortunate events of Monday night, but he’s a little pleased none the less.

“I need a plan to get back at Natasha,” Steve says, jaw set with determination.

“Oh?”

“I can’t just let her get away with it, but I can’t think of a prank of the same caliber as the one she pulled on me. So I need your help.”

Bucky blinks at him. “Why me?”

“Because she pranked you too!” Steve exclaims. “I can’t imagine how embarrassing it must’ve been for you, plus I’m still short of a volunteer for my project-”

“I could do it for you,” Bucky interrupts him, the words flying out of his mouth before he has a chance to think twice about what he’s offering.

Steve looks at him for a long moment. “Really?”

“Um, yeah,” Bucky says, even though his stomach is knotting with nerves. “You said you were desperate, so…”

Steve’s face softens, a smile lighting up his features. _God,_ he’s so pretty. “Thanks,”

“It’s no problem,” Bucky smiles back at him. “‘S long as you don’t mind me being naked in your apartment again.”

“I think I’ll manage,” Steve says, eyes shining with mirth. “Usually I’d insist on taking you out for dinner first, but given the circumstances I think I can make an exception.”

Bucky is 99% sure Steve is making a joke. The stupid part of his brain makes him pipe up with, “How about we go to dinner anyway?”

Steve bites down on his lip, glancing at his lap before he meets Bucky’s gaze again. “Are you asking me out?”

Bucky shrugs absent-mindedly, then nods frantically. “Yes. Yes, I am.”

“Okay,” Steve smiles, a little shy, breaking eye contact for just a moment. “I’d like that.”

“Good,” Bucky grins.

“Good,” Steve repeats, smile widening. Then his face turns serious, bordering on scared. “We can’t ever let Natasha find out about this.”

Bucky nods. “Okay, yeah-”

“Well hello there, Steve,” a girl with bright red hair pulled up into a ponytail and a mischievous smile on her face appears at their table just then. “Who’s your new friend?” she asks, turning her gaze on Bucky.

Steve keeps his face in check, smiling up at the girl. “Nat, this is Bucky. We’re going out on Saturday. Bucky, this is my roommate, the devil-woman, Natasha Romanova.”

“Hi, nice to meet you,” Bucky says, managing a small smile.

Natasha looks between them, observing them. “So how did you two crazy kids meet?”

“Bucky’s gonna be my model for that assignment I was telling you about.” Steve supplies helpfully.

“Yeah, I uh, overheard he was looking for someone, and I volunteered.”

Natasha narrows her eyes at him. From where she’s standing, looking down at him, Bucky can’t help but admit she is a little terrifying. “Is that so?”

Bucky presses his lips in a tight smile. “What can I say, I’m an exhibitionist,” he says, making Steve burst out in laughter.

“Well, good luck with that and all,” the redhead says, waving goodbye at them as she makes her way out of the coffee shop.

“Oh thank fuck,” Steve breathes out, shoulders sagging in relief. “She would never let us live it down if she found out.”

“Don’t worry,” Bucky assures him, reaching out to cover Steve’s hand with his own. “I’ll make sure that never happens.”

 

~~

 

“Steve,” Bucky mumbles, except his face is buried in the pillows, so it sounds more like a muffled groan.

Steve huffs out a laugh, from where he’s curled up with a soft blanket and his sketchpad, on the armchair in their bedroom. “I’m here,” he says quietly, and lifts his head briefly to look at his subject. The picture is coming together nicely. Bucky, and his bedhead, face scrunched up adorably and buried under soft white bedding, shoved down to his waist to expose the smooth lines of his gorgeous back, the barest rays of morning light illuminating the image.

Bucky groans as he pushes himself up on his elbows, and turns to lie on his back. “I know you’re there. I know it’s not even 6AM yet. Come back to bed.” he says, pushing the covers back, exposing himself to his boyfriend completely.

Steve rakes his eyes over Bucky’s naked body shamelessly, eyes travelling from head to toe and back up again until he meets his gaze. “Well,” Steve licks his lips. “That’s hard to say no to,”

Bucky grins, watching as Steve gets to his feet and drops his blanket, opting to climb up over him and fall on top of him, aligning their bare bodies together.

“‘Morning,” Steve whispers, brushing a soft kiss to Bucky’s lips.

Bucky hums in response. “It’s not morning until I wake up, and I’m going back to sleep as of this moment.”

Steve chuckles and settles next to him, tangling their limbs together, face tucked in the crook of Bucky’s neck. “Sleep it is then,” he presses a kiss to Bucky’s chin, who smiles in response. ‘Night babe.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> “How the fuck did she find out?”
> 
> Bucky grimaces apologetically. “I told my friend Sam, who told his girlfriend Maria, who told her roommate Sharon, who told _her_ girlfriend-”
> 
> “Yeah, okay, I get it,” Steve frowns, crossing his arms against his chest. “Our friends are the worst gossips.”


End file.
